Citizen Potawatomi Museum
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The CPN Cultural Heritage Center houses the Nation's Museum. |
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CURRENT STAFF:
Stacy Pero
Collections Manager
spero@potawatomi.org
A primary goal of the Citizen Potawatomi Museum is to preserve and interpret artifacts relevant to indigenous Great Lakes cultures, with an emphasis on the Anishinabe Potawatomi, and to facilitate an understanding of our history, heritage, values, art, philosophy, crafts, medicines, societal structure, and language -- but not merely in an historical sense. The Citizen Potawatomi are living, dynamic people with a bright future. The museum emphasizes the direct connection between our ancestors and the Citizen Potawatomi people of today. The theme, therefore, is not Who We Were, but Who We Are.
On Display:
The CPN Museum is located in the Cultural Heritage Center and is divided into two exhibit spaces: the permanent collection, in it's own room central to the building, and the occasional revolving exhibits which occupy space in the Long Room.
The permanent collection exhibits more fixed features of Potawatomi culture that serve to distinguish the Potawatomi as distinct from other Native American Indian nations. Potawatomi artifacts drawn from the museum's collection is featured here, along with interpretive displays to assist in understanding their significance.
Beyond the displays:
The process of creating a global database has begun and eventually, the entire museum collection will be digitally captured, entered into the database, and accessible via the Internet. This process is time-consuming, but is a high priority within the Cultural Resources Department. Once the information is in the database, the museum collection will be accessible to anyone interested in our culture and history, and interconnected with established educational resources worldwide. Principles of cooperation will be in place between the CPN Museum and many other museums, universities, libraries, and governmental collections and archives, allowing artifacts not currently in the museum’s collection to be visually accessible.
Artifact accession and handling protocol, proper storage and display facilities, still, video, and digitization facilities, and a white glove examination room provides an excellent venue for academic study of Native American Indian artifacts and history. Upon approval by tribal administrators and the museum's curator, graduate students, professors, grant recipients, anthropologists, archeologists, and others will find a wealth of information as they delve into the past.
spero@potawatomi.org